The youngest of nine children, Thomas Gainsborough was only ten years old when he started painting heads and landscapes. He was so good, he left home to study art in London when he was only thirteen. Twenty years later, Thomas’s career skyrocketed. All sorts of rich people hired him to paint portraits. He wanted to paint landscapes, but people thought they were unfashionable. Plus, Thomas had a knack for painting personality. So Thomas paid the bills by painting fancy people instead of landscapes (and grumbling about it in his letters). But over time he grew sneaky, adding in trees and hills behind the portraits—something other artists didn’t do at the time.

Thomas didn’t just paint with oil, and he didn’t just do the same thing over and over. He liked playing around with different tools and techniques. He tried out different papers and experimented with pencil, chalk, pens, watercolor, etchings, and even skim milk!